Doctors on safari success in 2016

As in 2015, the strongest relationship and greatest success came in aiding Bridge2Aid with their dental programmes in Tanzania.

The programme which trains and monitors clinical officers in safe tooth extractions has been focused around the Mwanza area since it began and Care With A View are very happy to have helped bring it to new areas of the country, namely Morogoro and Tanga, where we operate our camps. These areas had no single dentist in any community outside the main district headquarters in each area. For example, there was no dentist between Pangani town and Handeni town, a distance of nearly 200km, the consequence of which is 1000’s of people suffer with dental problems and pain, or undertake unsafe extractions which are dangerous and sometimes lead to terrible infection and loss of life.

Pangani

B2A trained a further 7 dental officers in 2016 in Pangani, with another team of 7 dentists and 4 nurses from the UK coming out to undertake the intensive two week programme. A wonderful by-product of the training is that 100’s of people in the area again received free dental care as part of the learning process. Below is the summary of the work undertaken by B2A this year in Pangani. Our Simply Saadani camp housed the team throughout their stay, and all were extremely grateful for the chance to return home to a comfortable safari lodge and a delicious meal each evening. It had a considerable positive effect on their ability to maintain a high standard of training in otherwise difficult circumstances.

2016 Pangani Programme Report

Bridge2Aid would like to thank Tent With a View, for providing such a high standard of accommodation and service to our volunteers, and also for excellent cooperation during the planning and preparation process, and then during the programme. It is a real pleasure working with you and we look forward to working in partnership again in the future as we continue to serve the needs of the people of Tanzania.

Introduction

Bridge2Aid works in partnership with the national, regional and district Government to provide training in Emergency Dental Treatment to Clinical Officers working in rural areas. By providing training to these Clinical Officers, we are increasing access to dental pain relieving treatment for rural communities in Tanzania using a sustainable, appropriate and replicable training approach. The training programme involves one day of theory training delivered by the District Dental Officer, followed by eight days of one to one practical training delivered by UK Bridge2Aid Dental Volunteers in partnership with the District Dental Officer. The practical training takes place at rural dispensaries and health centres where treatment is provided free of charge to the local population. Bridge2Aid was very proud to complete the 56th training programme in Tanzania. The training was conducted in Pangani District, Tanga Region and this was our second time in this area. Clinical Officers from Pangani District were trained and then assessed after the training.

Programme Achievements

The September 2016 programme was supported by Tent With a View who provided free accommodation and food for our volunteer team and also carried out with the support of Whitedent, who provided product samples for free distribution to patients. During the programme 6 Clinical Officers were trained of which 5 reached the required standard to be able to proide treatment independently, under the supervistion of the DDO, and were issued with Instrument kits and sterilisers, which will enable them to continue with treatment in their rural health facilities after the programme.

Each Clinical Officer trained means that their rural communities of 10,000 people each in Tanzania now have access to emergency dental treatment. This means that 50,000 people now have access to emergency dental treatment in Pangani District, Tanga Region. During the practical training a total of 490 patients received free dental treatment. At the same time as the Pangani programme, we had another programme in Mkinga District, also in Tanga Region, at Maramba and Dugasigaya Health Facilities, in which another 6 Clinical Officers were trained and a total of 512 patients were treated for free.

The September programme in Pangani District can be summarized as below: Dates

District

Individual training sites

Patients treated at site

TOTAL patients treated during programme

COs trained

COs successfully passing training

People provided with access to emergency dental treatment

13th – 22nd September

Pangani

Mwera

242

490

6

5

50,000

Sakura

248

Morogoro

In June and July 2016 and smaller team of four dentists and two nurses stayed for two weeks at Sable Mountain Lodge on the edge of Selous Game Reserve. This team were there to monitor and improve on last year’s full training programme, and were particularly focused on working with the Dsitrict Dental Officers, who are fully trained dentists and who must work closely with the newly trained clinical officers to maintain and improve their work.

The B2A team with Tara and Lili at Sable MountainThe programme was a great success, and the team even managed to get to Matambwe and help the many Selous rangers with dental problems. All were extremely grateful for the efforts of Sable Mountain in keeping them comfortable throughout.

The Portland Doctors and the Solo Wilderness Training Programme

After running workshops for students in herbal medicine from Simply Saadani Camp in 2014 and 2015, Dr Maria Valdez and her team undertook to bring the Solo First Responder wilderness training programme to Tanzania. Whilst planning to develop programs to train development workers from overseas, particularly USA, the programs would also offer free training to individuals from relevant local organisations. The intensive 10 day programme, run from Simply Saadani camp in July 2016, trained, free of charge, two TANAPA rangers from Saadani National Park, guides and security guards in the local area. The program training was given a real life emergency to deal with when one member of the Simply Saadani staff badly burned his arm and face. The trainees worked really well under the supervision of Dr Valdez and Tony Meiklejohn, the other instructor, to treat the patient. The incident brought into sharp focus the value of the training and played a part in all the students achieving the necessary standard to be certificated.